I took some heat for posting about Democratic City Council Candidate Kevin Kim hiring Michael Tobman as a consultant given Tobman's past record of Karl Rove style tactics and recent record of being part of losing campaigns. I suppose the reason I got heat was because I quoted a Republican source in my article, though my info regarding Tobman's poor record on both ethical and efficacy grounds was based largely on my own experiences.  read more »

I hate it when the better candidate works with sleazy people. It really makes it hard to endorse that candidate. In the city council race for the 19th district in Queens, Democrat Kevin Kim has brought onto his staff someone I have come to know all too well, the ultra sleazy, usually loser, Michael Tobman. Now Kevin Kim seems a reasonable candidate, and his Republican opponent is, well, a Republican with all the unfortunate baggage that carries with it since Bush threw the nation down the toilet for the benefit of Saudi Arabia. [UPDATE: Let me say again just to be clear...I do prefer Kim over Hallorn]. But hiring Michael Tobman is such a stupid move that it calls Kevin Kim's judgment into question given Tobman's nastiness and losing record. My own experiences are at the bottom. First, here is a press release from Kim's Republican opponent regarding sleazy tactics and Tobman:

Statement from Steven Stites, Spokesman, Dan Halloran for City Council Regarding Kevin Kim Consultant Michael Tobman

“At what point does Kevin Kim have to answer for the questionable conduct of his staff and the people he has chosen to run his campaign? The unfounded name-calling and sleazy tactics have escalated into destroying Halloran signs on private property, moving from dirty politics to outright criminality are just a part of a pattern that has emerged since Kevin Kim unexpectedly defeated all of the more mainstream centrist Democrats in the primary on September 15.

“We know Kevin Kim hired Michael Nussbaum of Multimedia/The Queens Tribune paying huge sums to do his hit pieces against Dan, including spurious attacks on Dan Halloran's heritage and faith. We know Kim was involved with a ‘bait and switch’ backdoor endorsement with the scandal-plagued Working Families Party, which is under investigation in multiple jurisdictions and is tied to the national scandals with ACORN. Add to that Kim's attempt to hijack the Independence Party's line by an ‘opportunity to ballot’ petition in August, which was fortunately thrown out by the Board of Elections because it was ‘riddled with improprieties in the signatures gathered.’ It’s a never-ending list.

“Now we find out that Kevin Kim's newest advisor is none other than Michael Tobman. Tobman is an infamous lobbyist known for his Karl Rove-style gangster campaigns. He has been called by the Gotham Gazette the ‘Sleaziest Lobbyist in New York,’ and he has admitted to violating a series of ethics and lobbying laws. These are the people being employed to advance the Kim campaign.  read more »